It’s been 40 years since Neil Armstrong said those famous words “One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind…”

From Cape Canaveral (then Cape Kennedy) in Florida over half a million people watched as three astronauts (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin  and Michael Collins) were boosted towards the first lunar landing.

Coming eight years after President Kennedy’s speech to Congress in 1961, in which he unveiled the Apollo programme “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth”.  Half a billion people watched on television as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin moved about on the lunar surface with its gravity one-sixth that of Earth’s.

Since 20 July 1969 only five more missions took man to the moon, not forgetting Apollo 13, which is famous for not getting there and the heroic efforts needed to save the crew.  The last mission was Apollo 17 on December 11, 1972 by Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt.

This begs the question, why haven’t we been back to the moon since?  Landing on the moon was a magnificent achievement for mankind and from which we have made many discoveries.

The ‘space race’ continues, but what will we achieve in the next 40 years?

Whilst many people may feel one way or another about Michael Jackson, there is no debating the world-wide phenomenon that was his life. And now in death, it seems his effect is even more powerful.

As the news about Jackson’s death began to circulate, the Internet became a focal point for people everywhere trying to verify the story, find out more facts, and pass the information on to friends and family across the world.

The vast increase in traffic caused many sites to feel the strain, with Google producing error pages on related searches, and Twitter crashing for only the second recorded time. In fact, the search for more information on Michael Jackson became so feverish, that Google rated the topic as “volcanic” on their hotness meter, even considering the sudden influx as a possible attack, and BBC News received 72% more traffic around the time of his death, along with many other sites.

The fact that the Internet can be rocked by such real, physical events is somewhat reassuring – we haven’t yet reached the stage where computers, cold and unfeeling, can report the news dispassionately, without a thought for its effects on those more “fleshly”. At least not yet, and I for one think that’s a good thing.

I was amused the other evening to receive a phone call from a telemarketer selling car insurance. Normally these calls send my blood boiling, and cause me to rant prolific that “I never asked to be called”. However, the voice at the other end was a reassuringly pleasant Brummy tone that I recognised well, as my family originates from that region.

After a few minutes of sales pitch, I politely said no thank you, and asked what part of the Midlands the caller was from. She replied, “Walsall”, and I asked what the weather was like up there (a traditional Brummy passtime). Her reply astonished me: “Oh, I don’t live there any more – I was made redundant a year ago, and I’ve moved to Mumbai to join this call centre… there just aren’t enough jobs back in England…”.

So, there you have it. Britain’s latest export success story – having outsourced and off-shored all the jobs, we are now off-shoring all our people.

So next time you get a familiar accent on the phone, don’t assume they are just down the road – they may be one of the increasing numbers of Britain’s off-shoring themselves in pursuit of the ever decreasing number of jobs.

This question raises its head from time to time, especially with older relatives. The answer has to be carefully crafted, I’ve discovered, to avoid an uncomfortable silence. Explaining “freelancing” to them can lead to miscomprehension, or glazed looks.
Searching the internet for help in dealing with similar situations led to this quote from Travis Chillemi on the formidable site webworkerdaily.com:

Them: What do you do?
Me: I am a web designer.
Them: Oh! My dentist also does web design. He/She is really good with Frontpage and stuff. He/She even has their own website. It has something to do with geocities…
Me: Yeah. I do dental work on the side, too. I even have my own drill and chair.
Them: Huh?

Maybe the answer should always try to reflect the knowledge of the person asking the question, if you are lucky enough to know it. For instance, “I help companies do the ‘eBay’ thing” has worked, along with “it’s like advertising, but on the internet”. But generally the old chestnut “I work with computers” is resorted to, with the inevitable “oh, can you fix my son’s computer, I think it’s got a virus…”.
But my favourite is: “I’m sorry, I’m not allowed to discuss that – you understand?”, then look around you nervously…